The Incident that changed Generations
by MaxRide05
Summary: In St Mungos after a terrible incident Xeno dreams. And in his dreams Narcissa always says no. But he knows the difference between dreams and reality. Pre Trio era.


**AN: **I don't own HP.

In **reality** the first time he kissed her on the lips (_and not her cheek_) was during a party in the Slytherin common room.

They were

TRAPPED

under enchanted mistletoe

(_back then he hadn't known of the creatures which dwelled there_)  
And she nearly bit her bottom lip r.a.w, with nerves

(_and maybe some excitement  
he hoped_)

before he p-r-e-s-s-e-d his own parted lips over it,

soothing the **red** flesh with his tongue.

(_She smelled like flowers and tasted like liqueur_)

In his **dreams**

(hallucinations)_  
_

she laughs as he leans forward, shaking her golden head,

eyes **bright** as sapphires in her mirth

_n_o_ is what she means

yet the word doesn't pass her pink lips.

Instead what she says is,

"Do you really think I want to kiss you? I'd rather it were Lucius."

That **stings** like a slap in the face.

He wonders if it's a-l-w-a-y-s like this.

R

e

j

e

c

t

i

o

n

In reality, months after the kiss, whenever he asked her if she was going to accept his cousin's offer of a betrothal, she would say, "Maybe, maybe not," in that haughty voice he always **hated**.

(_It made her sound like Bellatrix_)

And he would feel as if one gust of wind would be enough to blow him over.

_**Right  
Over  
The  
Edge**_

But, now, in his dreams he asks her to ~~ run away ~~ with him

(_something he _never_ did in reality_)

and he stares into her b.l.u.e eyes,

all but begging her

_please_don't_say_no.

She smiles sweetly, a smile he .does. not. like.

Her eyes look an unnatural bright blue as they bore into his own g-r-e-y ones  
(_different from his dear cousin Lucius' in that they hold glints of silver and blue in certain lights_)

Her mouth opens, but then he sees a **shadow** in the corner of his eye.

He feels a _s-h-i-v-e-r_ of fear

right - - down - - to his bones

"Run, 'Cissa. Please."

He tries to grab her hand,

she turns to mist at his touch.

He stares in _horror_

he L-O-S-T her

like he lost

(_Lucius' older sister_) Ophelia,

his (_dead, drowned_) betrothed,

when he was but a babe in arms

Then he has _no choice_ but to

run

fast as a firebolt

~winged~ as Icarus fleeing Crete

as the shadows come for him

(_like they did in R.E.A.L.I.T.Y_)

Only this time he -t-r-i-p-s- over his own feet

{ his wings

m

e

l

t }

and the ground rushes up to meet him

like he's **famous** and they've n-e-v-e-r met.

And the shadows **_loom_** over him

before _collapsing_ into one person.

Lucius sneers down at him, malicious as ever, "you never did have what it took to be a Malfoy, ward in my father's house or no. You had less strength than I. You with your foolish thoughts of grandeur. Swanning around like a Slytherin version of that bigoted Potter."

Xeno was two years above Potter, so it was actually the other way around

(_though no one, aside from the people who knew him, would believe that if they could see him now, daunted by reality as he was_).

Severus, _misguided_ though the young Prince could be,

said that Potter was but a weak **p.a.r.o.d.y** of him.

With, 'none of your likeability and strange charm, but a lot of arrogance'.

Lucius continues,

(_he always did like the sound of his own voice_)

"But I am the Malfoy heir. I am the only one of us allowed to think such things, achieve such things."

He's a jealous bastard, that's for sure

(_in ~d~r~e~a~m~s AND r-e-a-l-i-t-y_).

He opens his mouth to tell his older cousin so, when Lucius whips something out of his cloak pocket.

His \\ivory/ wand is aimed at Xenophilius' face

and before the

f.a.l.l.e.n Slytherin can even scream

there is a flash of GREEN

(_when, in truth, there had been streaks of red, purple and blue  
as ViViD as jewels from the wands of his o-l-d housemates_)

And then N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

(w_here there had been pain and the breaking down and rebuilding of his mind_)

The next _dreamxeno_ knows, he's looking - down - at himself

- at his c.o.r.s.p.e -

on a slab in a mortuary.

He's not alone.

"Do you recognise this man?" The witch in lime green questions the other beside her.

Unnaturally bright blue eyes look at him coldly as Narcissa Malfoy says no.

(_But, really, she ran from him, from his room in St Mungos. And, as far as he knew, she didn't look back_.)

**Written for Camp Potter, a Challenge, Arts and Crafts (freeverse). Prompts used were: **Mandatory**: 1. Maybe, maybe not. 2. Blue. 3. Wind. **Optional**: 1. Was it always ****like this? 2. Strength. 3. Saying no. 4. Less. **


End file.
